The opera premiered 16 months after Luisa Miller and quickly became a big international success and has remained so ever since. Next we turn our attention to another Verdi opera and one of the composer’s best known tunes - La donna è mobile from Rigoletto. One of Verdi’s best overtures, it begins a bit somberly, hinting at the tragedy to come, then quickly turns up-tempo and includes a spirited passage for solo clarinet. The overture is based almost entirely on the theme which opens the piece and which Verdi used again to begin Act III, albeit with a change in tempo. Rodolfo is tricked into poisoning her and himself, but lives long enough to do in the dastardly Wurm (“worm” in German), the intriguer who causes the disaster. Luisa loves Carlo, who’s really named Rodolfo and who’s really in love with her. The libretto was based on a play by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller: “ Kabale und Liebe” - “Intrigue and Love” - a title that hints at a plot too complicated to describe here in detail, but here’s the 15-second summary: In the grand-old operatic tradition, we open our program tonight with an overture - specifically the Overture to Luisa Miller, which Giuseppe Verdi wrote in 1849 for a “ melodrama tragico” that was well received but which has never become part of the standard opera repertoire. On our final musical journey of the 2015-16 season, we explore the operatic worlds of France and Italy and take a quick visit to Bohemia. Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic – Program Notes – An Evening of Opera Overtures and Arias – May 6, 2016
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